04/02/2025
Joburg welcomes extension of spaza shop registration deadline
National government has extended the registration of spaza shops deadline to 28 February 2025 and includes all other food handling outlets. The initial deadline announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa ended on 17 December 2024.
Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Economic Development, Councillor Nomoya Mnisi says “The City welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s extension of the spaza shop registration deadline to 28 February 2025. This extension provides spaza shop owners with more time to comply with municipal regulations and operate legally”.
According to MMC Mnisi, legally registered owners stand to benefit from access to business support programmes and funding opportunities, improved safety and security and the opportunity to contribute to economic growth of Johannesburg.
“Let’s work together to build a thriving, secure and sustainable business community in Johannesburg”, says MMC Mnisi.
The city distributed over 10 000 registration forms throughout its seven Regions during the first period but found that almost all spaza shop owners were not legally compliant. They were unable to produce the required documents like SARS certificates, building plans/rezoning certificate, health certificate and others which has caused a huge delay in registration and confirmation of numbers.
An online registration system has now been developed to speed up the process and all submitted applications are being captured onto the online portal. It will then be opened to the public once ready. Between 1 July and 15 November 2024, a total of 7802 inspections were carried out throughout the Regions of which 1732 traders/food handlers were compliant and 1444 were not. In addition, 243 traders/food handlers were closed and prohibited from running their businesses.
Joint community imbizos between the City and Gauteng Department of Economic Development are ongoing in the Regions to create awareness, information sharing and education on all aspects of spaza shop, informal trading and food handling requirements.